Hadith 3

Abu Saʿid al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to observe iʿtikāf during the last ten nights of Ramadan. One year he continued his retreat until (1) the twenty-first night arrived—the night on whose morning he would normally leave the mosque—whereupon he said:

“Whoever has been in retreat with me should stay on for the last ten nights. I was shown this night and then caused to forget it. In the vision I saw myself prostrating in water and mud on its morning, so search for it in the last ten nights; search for it on every odd night.”

Abu Saʿid added: That very night the sky poured rain, and the mosque, whose roof was a simple canopy of palm-branches, began to leak. My eyes beheld the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with traces of water and mud upon his forehead on the morning of the twenty-first.

Unfamiliar expressions
• “In the middle ten” (fī al-ʿashr al-awsat): strictly speaking, the form should be al-wusṭā because ‘ten’ is feminine; the usage is justified because the intended reference is to the day.
• “The mosque leaked” (wakafa al-masjid): rainwater dripped from its roof; similarly one says wakafa al-damʿ, “tears dripped.”
• “I was shown this night and then made to forget it”: he was informed of its exact time and then caused to forget it by Divine wisdom, not that he beheld it with his physical eyes.

Overall meaning
The Prophet ﷺ initially secluded himself during the middle ten days of Ramadan, hoping to coincide with Laylat al-Qadr, because he thought it fell in that period. Thus, in one year he observed iʿtikāf, as was his custom, up to the twenty-first night—the morning of which would normally mark the end of his retreat. On that occasion it became clear to him that Laylat al-Qadr lay in the last ten nights, so he told his Companions: “Whoever was in retreat with me during the middle ten should continue and observe the last ten as well.”

He explained that he had seen the night in a dream but had been caused to forget its precise timing, and that he had seen himself prostrating in water and mud. Because the dream was true and had not yet come to pass, the night must still lie ahead during the last ten nights, and therefore they were to seek it there.

Allah fulfilled the vision of His Prophet ﷺ: the sky rained that night. His mosque was built like a simple thatched shelter, its pillars formed from palm trunks and its roof from fronds, so rainwater dripped through. On the morning of the twenty-first the Prophet ﷺ prostrated in water and mud, exactly as he had seen in his dream.